


Getting My Way

by GingerLyoness



Category: The Hour
Genre: Bel is grumpy, F/M, Fluff, Freddie is persistent, Isaac is cute, Kittens, Lix is emotional
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-05-26
Updated: 2013-05-26
Packaged: 2017-12-13 01:52:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,275
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/818572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GingerLyoness/pseuds/GingerLyoness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>On his way to work, Freddie finds a tiny, bedraggled black kitten. So of course, he ends up taking it into Lime Grove, and some very mild chaos ensues.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Getting My Way

**Author's Note:**

  * For [diaghileafs](https://archiveofourown.org/users/diaghileafs/gifts).



> My very own Moneypenny, en-dejlig-rosa, sent me the prompt 'Post canon. Freddie brings a tiny black kitten into the office, having become completely besotted with her on his way to work' on tumblr, and I did it in 2,000 or so words, because I'm obsessed with Freddie and cute things fluff.  
> The prompt was based on how I've recently become besotted with a tiny black kitten called Sofia which en-dejlig-rosa owns, so I have based it on that particular kitten.

“Freddie, it’s time to get up,” Bel murmured, stroking the man’s hair gently as she coaxed him out of sleep. It took him a far shorter amount of time to get ready for work in the morning than it did her, Freddie preferring to roll over and bury his face into the pillow, trying in vain to block out the streams of sunlight from the window.

That particular morning, Freddie had found it easier than usual to remain asleep, the day grey and miserable outside, the clouds growing a darker purple as rain threatened to fall. As Bel’s voice permeated the silence that enveloped him in sleep, he groaned, rolling onto his side to look up at her, still bleary eyed in his drowsy state. He sighed quietly, relishing the sensation of her fingers running through his hair.

“You can’t stay here all day, you’ve got to come into work,” Bel tried to encourage him. She knew that he was devoted to his work, and wouldn’t miss it. He just wasn’t a morning person whatsoever. She frowned as he sniffled slightly, something that wasn’t present the night before, “Freddie, are you not well?”

He hummed quietly, “just a bit bunged up, it’s nothing,” he replied, his voice nasally as he threw an arm over his face. Bel sighed, always the trooper she thought, never taking a day off if he could avoid it. She could remember one occasion where Clarence ended up sending him home after he came down with pneumonia. She pressed a hand to his forehead, believing his excuse when she found it at normal temperature. He had a habit of passing off illnesses that needed days off by saying it was ‘nothing’, so she always felt it necessary to check before believing his statements.

She smiled, “well, I need to leave, or I’m going to be late,” she informed him, “I’ll see you later,” she leant down, pressing a gentle kiss to his lips, chuckling at the wistful smile that came across his face as she pulled away. He still relished every chance he got to kiss her, even though they had been together for almost three years.

Freddie sighed as he heard the front door shut, rolling onto his back to look up at the ceiling before finally dragging himself out of bed. Walking steadily to the kitchen, he put the toaster on before rushing back to the bedroom, pulling his work clothes on quickly before the toast could burn. The trouble with having a broken toaster was that one couldn’t dress slowly, unless you wanted to be met with the smell of burnt bread. Plus, it made the morning routine a lot faster with the much shortened dressing routine.

With his tie thrown over his shoulder and his shirt half untucked, Freddie ran to the kitchen, popping the toast out and trying in vain not to burn his fingers as he looked for a plate. The kitchen layout really could be inconvenient at times, he thought, or he just wasn’t sensible and forgot to get a plate out beforehand. Most likely the latter.

20 minutes later, Freddie realised that Bel really hadn’t been joking when she’d said he ought to get up. The result was him running around the flat to get ready in enough time before he had to leave, pausing on his doorstep to let out a sigh. This turned into a groan as he noticed rain was pouring from the heavens above. But it was too late to get an umbrella now, instead he turned up his coat collar and made his way down the street, narrowly avoiding a gush of water from the next houses’ gutter with a quick sidestep.

As the end of the road approached, he frowned as he saw what appeared to be a black dot in the middle of the pavement. As he got closer, he realised it was a tiny black kitten, mewing loudly. He smiled, squatting down to stroke it, “hello,” he said softly, “where’s your mum?” he chuckled, before standing back up straight – he had no time to waste on small kittens, however sweet they may be.

As he began to walk off again, he couldn’t help but feel a little bad – there was no mother around, or an owner for that matter. He hoped it wouldn’t be too long before someone found it. As these thoughts occupied his brain, another mewl came from the cat. He stopped, turning around only to realise the kitten winding itself around his ankles. He sighed, “alright, if nobody else is going to claim you, then I will,” he told it, picking it up gently and holding it gently to his chest, tucking his coat around it.

He smiled as it purred quietly, at least he’d done one good deed for the day. After a ten minute walk he reached the office, thoroughly soaked along with the kitten. It turned out his coat hadn’t done as good a job at keeping them both dry as he thought it would. Shaking his hair out slightly as he ran up the steps, he realised he really _should_ have bothered with an umbrella. He smirked as an idea formulated in his head, before he strode into Bel’s office, depositing the drenched kitten on her desk, watching as it shook all over her papers.

“What the hell is that?” Bel asked, looking up from her typewriter with a frown as her eyes settled on the kitten.

“It’s a kitten, Moneypenny, what does it look like?” he teased, shrugging his coat off with a with a smirk on his face.

“If you think you’re keeping it, then you’re completely wrong,” she told him sternly, going back to her typing while refusing to look at the kitten wandering around on her desk. It made for the edge of the desk, Freddie moving to catch it before it could jump off, “because I am certainly _not_ looking after it.”

“I never said you had to,” he replied, echoing her stern voice, “though we are keeping it. It’s sweet, you’ve got to admit that,” he prodded, knowing that it would irritate her.

“I don’t care if it’s ‘sweet’, which it very well may be,” she replied, moving her glasses to look at him, “we’re not taking it home with us. It’s probably looking for its mother, anyway,” she knew it was an argument she couldn’t win, rolling her eyes as she went back to her work.

Freddie laughed, turning to walk out of the door, “well, I’m keeping it – even if you don’t like it!” he called over his shoulder, wandering back to his desk to get on with his script for that weeks show. He placed the kitten down on his desk as he arranged his stuff, setting the paper in place in the typewriter as a voice came from opposite him.

“What’s this?” Isaac asked, bending down to look at the kitten, a smile appearing on his face as it wandered towards him curiously. He stretched a hand out, recoiling as it batted at his shirt sleeves playfully.

“It’s a kitten, Isaac, darling,” Lix called as she walked into the room, cigarette in hand and glasses in the other, “Freddie, what is it doing here, exactly?” she asked, perching on the edge of the desk as she took a long drag off of her cigarette, looking at the kitten as it played with Isaac.

“Found it on my way to work, it looked like it had lost its mother,” he told her, “that or it had been chucked out,” he frowned, reaching forward to lift the kitten off of his notes, grinning as it remained attached to Isaac’s sleeve, “so, since it looked like it needed help, I brought it with me.”

“How caring of you,” Lix said nonchalantly, “does it have a name, yet?” she asked, reaching out to stroke it gently

“No, not yet,” he smiled, “I don’t even know if it’s a he or a she, actually,” he leant forward, a laugh escaping his mouth as he watched Lix pick it up to look at its underside briefly, rolling his eyes as she placed it back down.

“Girl. So you have your name choices halved now,” she informed him, smiling as the two men were still chuckling at her actions. The group remained silent, all of them in deep thought as they tried to come up with a name.

“What about Sofia?” Isaac suggested, “she looks like a Sofia,” he continued, chuckling as the kitten returned to nibbling as his cuffs.

“Sofia. Yes, I think that’ll do nicely,” Freddie nodded, “I hereby christen thee ‘Sofia’” he joked, waving his fingers over the kitten in a haphazard cross, laughing as she hung onto his jacket sleeve, claws digging in.

“Well, on that note, I need to get to work, and so do you two,” Lix said, her voice sounding wobbly as she walked away quickly, taking a deep drag on her cigarette as her eyebrows furrowed. The two men shrugged, not understanding her sudden change of attitude, before taking her advice and getting to writing up their copies.

As the typewriter made each slide across to start a new line, Sofia would paw at the paper as it moved, Freddie chuckling as he moved her each time. In the end, he placed her on his lap, smiling as she curled up against his stomach.

Hours passed, and the kitten had remained asleep for the whole time he had been working. As he was reading over his final copy, he reached down, stroking a finger gently over the top of Sofia’s head before picking her up and placing her in his pocket as he stood, making his way to Bel’s office.

The woman in question didn’t even notice his presence as he entered, so focused on her work that it took a kiss on her temple to make notice him. She smiled, “James,” she said, looking up at him, “I may be your fiancée, but I am also your producer,” she teased, raising an eyebrow.

“Check my copy?” he asked, passing her the paper with one hand while holding onto the kitten with the other.

“You’ve brought the kitten with you?” she asked with a sigh, before taking the copy to read over. Freddie chuckled, taking it out of his pocket to place it on the desk.

“I didn’t want her running off,” he explained, “she tried to jump off the desk earlier on, and she’s been sleeping in my lap for the past few hours,” he said fondly.

“Oh, it’s a she now, is it?” Bel replied, looking up and not being able to hold back a smile as she watching him stroke the kitten.

“Yes, and her name is Sofia,” he informed her, “and she’s a bit of a tyke.”

“You know if you name something, you get attached to it,” Bel told him nonchalantly, trying in vain once again to persuade him not to take it home.

“Well that’s alright, since it’s coming home with us,” he smirked, perching on the edge of the desk as he watched her read.

Later that evening the pair returned to their flat, Bel not even bothering to say anything as he carried the bedraggled kitten against his chest. Freddie sat on the floor, back resting on the sofa as the kitten played in his lap, pulling at his sleeve and trying to bite his finger – one thing he hadn’t realised is that kitten scratches hurt rather more than he thought they would.

Bel watched from the doorway as she waited for the kettle to boil, smirking as a thought came to her, “you’ll be doing that with a baby one day,” she told him, watching as he turned around, eyebrows raised. She tried to remain composed, his shocked expression making it more difficult than before.

“Wha- you- do you mean you’re-” he paused, raising his eyebrows as he leant forward with a slight nod, “are you-you aren’t, are you?” he asked, beginning to look panicked as he placed the kitten on the sofa next to him before standing up and walking towards her.

“Bel, why aren’t you answering me?” he asked, hands on his hips as he stood in front of her, his well known ‘I’m being serious’ stance. With that, Bel couldn’t hold out any longer, bursting out laughing, putting her hand on his shoulder as her laughter turned silent.

“Oh, Freddie,” she sighed, standing back up straight as she took his hand in hers, “of course I’m not! What lead you to that conclusion?” she asked, still chuckling as she watched his expression turn from relief to irritation.

“I don’t know – you just don’t normally mention babies, that’s all,” he replied, looking embarrassed, “and I think that can wait a bit, anyway. Don’t want to be settling into ‘Baby Boulevard’ straight away, do we?” he chuckled, “tea?”

“That would be lovely,” she replied, letting go of his hand as he walked to the kitchen. As she turned around, she noticed that Freddie’s own ‘baby’ had decided to use the sofa as a scratching post, “Freddie! Your little monster is trying to tear up the furniture!” she called, pulling the kitten away with a sigh, before letting it settle in her lap as they sat on the sofa.

“I knew you’d like her eventually,” Freddie said suddenly from behind her, making her jump. He only chuckled, sitting beside her as he passed her a cup of tea, watching with a smile as she stroked the cat’s fur. Perhaps she could get used to the kitten after all?


End file.
